The House of the Frog

[Kenneth New]

I would like it very much if the players would provide a synopsis of this story. It doesn't have to be a beautiful work of narrative artistry, and it doesn't have to be the work of a single player. As a GM it is extremely valuable for me to know what the players believed to have happened so I can know how the story should flow in future stories.

[hubertbartels]

These notes are from Talli’s perspective and won’t touch on events she did not see or find interesting.

It was a month since we returned from our trip to Maddercast. To Talli’s surprise, she got a luncheon invite from Lord Felix Desdoman, the Duke’s Minster of Finance. She and the other Heroes of Elocia have been invited to a feast at the Rathskeller – the restaurant underneath city hall.

The day of the luncheon arrived and Talli, wearing an expensive dress and jewelry, got into a hired sedan chair and traveled to the Rathskeller in style. She was pleased to find her fellow heroes and companions there. Lord Felix put in an appearance and everyone enjoyed themselves. After the cheese and port had been sent around, Lord Felix got down to business.

It is the Minister of Finance’s responsibility to oversee the collection of taxes and fees in Elocia. One of the things he has done is the refurbishing of rundown buildings inherited by the city and turning them into profitable properties. The worst of these is the ‘The House of the Frog’ in the Weaver’s Court. It is said to be haunted. No one wants anything to do with it.

The luncheon having ended, we adjoin to a tavern near the Weaver’s Court. Talli is tasked with gathering information. With Timon in tow, she goes looking for the Black Rabbits. After the original killings over ten years (?) ago, the Black Rabbits were supposed to have looted the place.

In the Black Rabbit informal headquarters, the Black Rabbit Tavern, Talli talked to a woman named ‘Dextra’. She spins a tale of a ghost singing in the building with a beautiful voice. The ghost is that of Gloria Tannerick, wife of _______ Tannerick, and the former owner of the house. She had her children killed before her eyes to get her to spill the names of members of the cult. No one who has entered the house has come out. Well, one did, Gideon. Gideon the Halfwit as he is known now. He and a group of the Shrikes entered at the dark of the moon – and Gideon stumbled out, aged and missing his wits.

Hunting down Gideon, Talli and Timon find a blue-fairy drug going down. They quickly run down the
Shrikes doing the dealing and turn them over to the watch.

The next day, after lunch, the heroes entered the ‘House of the Frog’, using the small side entrance in the former linen factory. Closing the door behind them, they stood in a long hallway. Talli was in the lead, trying to keep an eye out for surprises. She missed the Glyph of Warding. Although the girl jumped out of the way, several others caught most of the blast.

While recovering from the effects of the trap, the heroes discover that other people have been using the entrance. Opening the doors, the heroes discover a morag and its handler, a priestess of Orcus. The priestess says ‘How did you discover our plan?” before the fight starts in earnest. The fight is short and ugly but it ended with Father Cassander injured, the morag destroyed and the priestess dead.

Lor’thremar turned to the other heroes, saying that he heard a door being closed in the courtyard. The heroes start heading into the foul smelling courtyard when four undead rise up to face them. They were the former Strikes, killed and raised by the necromancer following them. The evil wizard thought that he could outwit the heroes by flying above their heads while the undead tore at them. But Goro the monk used his skills to jump up and slug the necromancer. The necromancer finally flew away, swearing revenge for the death of his sister, the priestess of Orcus, and the death of his father, killed years earlier for creating a zombie invasion in a small Moravian village.

He left behind a workroom filled with pain-extraction machine, the vials of death that the machine created and his notes. Sergeant Fang destroyed the machine.

Now, the Heroes of Elocia were ready to enter the actual House of the Frog.

(I will continue later with the House of the Frog.)

[Kenneth New]

Awesome so far. Let me clear up a few things for your notes.

The Minister of Finance is named Lord Felix Desmondian.

The murders in the House of the Frog occurred 17 years ago (in 1335 Livonian Time). This was the event that resulted in Eudemion being named Mage Protector of the City. He wasn't involved in the killings at the House of the Frog. (His best friend Serg the Knife killed the inhabitants). Eudemion went to the country estate of Lord Archon Idarid and destroyed it along with most of the inhabitants. You may remember that Lord Archon Eugenios Idarid was killed in this incident, but that one grandson survived. He was 12 years old at the time and enrolled in the training program at Thalusa Tower. His name was Damian Idarid. After the new Duke reestablished his family in the Archonate, the Heroes of Elocia helped to install him as the Commander of Fort Bleak.

The drug that has been infiltrating the poorer parts of town is called "Faerie Dust", "Blue Dust" or just "Blue". The drug dealers (the Shrikes) have connections to an Athamel gang called the Moonflowers, operating out of the Northpoint area of town, also known as the Athamel Quarter.

[John Niska]

Inside the house itself, we found the decayed remains of frog cultists and the house itself. We finally encountered the ghost with its shadow minions. Once again the heroes of Elocia managed to kill the beast and put the ghost to rest. We proceeded to the lower levels and encountered the demon that had been released from its prison. It was a hezrou, a frog-like demon of great power and evil. We fought and the demon fled. As we rested, the demon returned fully healed and ready to kill. He bragged that he forced a priest to heal him and then fisted him on the altar. The battle was fierce but we managed to defeat the beast before he could teleport away.

Exploring the underground level, we found a temple of the frog cultists and it looked to be used on a regular basis. We found the concealed entrance and realizing that a ceremony would be coming up in two days, we decided to stay. We knew if we left the House of the Frog for any reason, the cult would know we survived and be ready for our subterfuge. We survived on Father Cassander’s summoned food.

We planned out our method of attack and waited for the ceremony to begin before attacking. There were a lot of cultists. There were mostly warriors but a handful were priests, skilled fighters, and spellcasters. We did surprise them but the higher level members of the cult had planned out what they would do if the cult was discovered. A well-placed wall of stone diminished our initial volley but we managed to survive the attack. The addition of a stinking cloud, obsidian flow and a black tentacles, really bashed us down but we were able to persevere. We killed many of them and as the tide seemed to be in our favor, two of the cultists tried to escape. The majority pursued a wizard into the linen factory while Timon pursued a sorcerer through the sewers. In the end, the heroes of Elocia won. As the cultists were unmasked, Father Cassander mentally contacted some one high placed in the government as we did not want it known at the moment that many cultists were killed and their identities discovered.

(I will see post about the identities of the cultists in a future post.)